The creative writing, observations, experiences, and opinions, on life, and the world around him, by Kiril Kundurazieff; taking one step at a time on the Journey of Discovery, and Enlightenment, that every individual must take from the cradle to the grave.

April 2013

April 11, 2013

My name is the Cycling Dude. I also fancy myself The Mad Houstonian. I have bicycled all my life and, up until last September, that was all in southern California. In 2003 I began one of the earliest bike blogs in America and while that blog ended in 2010, I still write about my cycling adventures. I am a poet, storyteller, commentator, photographer and safe cycling advocate and, now, I look forward to exploring my new home on 2 wheels.

Houston, you are a huge ol’ place, you cover a lot of ground. You started small, but now you have grown so big that motor vehicles compete to make the loudest sound. It’s said you give bicyclists lots of space to ride around alongside bayous, large and small.

Multi-use trails do abound but I ask, is that all? Is that the only option for me to saddle up and pedal toward? Can I also safely share the road with motorists and trust my precious life on your many, varied, city streets?

During the 4 yrs. he has lived here he found himself growing to like the place, a city he described as not simply a “paved-over swamp, but a very pleasant paved-over swamp.” I’ll bet that made him some friends when they read that in the paper, hee, hee!

As a jogger and a foodie, he found himself venturing further and further from the safe confines of his college campus and exploring and experiencing what this city has to offer. His confusion over opposition to “viable public transit and expansion of metro rail” is something I can understand and I’ve only been here just over 6 months.

Metrophobia? Having moved here to Houston and experienced 6 months of a transit system that is nothing at all like what I was used to in southern California, is it any wonder some folks might think the term related to issues of mass transit?

But, nope, that ain't it at all, as my fellow member of the Wordsmith Studio J. Lynn Sheridan, explains.

"If your heart is pounding against your favorite sweat-soggy writing t-shirt as you read a simple poetry post, you just may suffer with METROPHOBIA....

Just think, poets, some of our own treasured genre-writers are sweating droplets of vowels or paragraphs of declarative sentences fearing a frontal attack of poetic sentence fragments....

A quick Google search shows that poetry is the most hated and feared of all the writing arts. There are loads of sites that deal with the hatred of poetry and poetry phobia."

She has written a couple of fine essays on the subject of the fear of poetry and how to overcome it, with a 3rd on the way.

There is a new blog on the Houston Chronicle website. It purports to have as its focus social media activities and issues in Houston, or as its writers, Alison Sutton and Dwight Silverman, write “what gets Houston talking on the Web?”

The blog, Word of Mouth, debuted on February 27th and has not had a post since. No sign why, but this can’t be promising. Or maybe they have been pre-occupied, as this quote might show: “Dwight pioneered the social frontier at the Chron years ago, and about nine months ago, I came aboard to bring a marketing angle to the effort. Since then, we have had many a conversation around “engagement,” “brand ambassadors,” “content marketing” and other buzz phrases that ultimately make us cringe.

Be that as it may, this first effort WAS interesting. They have puzzled over a question: Is Houston a social city?

In mid Sept. 2012 a mysterious man and his extraordinary cats, left their former lives behind to start fresh among people of a culture unfamiliar to them, in a state bigger than life, home to legends of american history, looking to impart their wisdom to all they meet, while discovering what their new surroundings could teach them as well.

What is Houston all about? What is at the heart of the love so many have for the rich historical, cultural and creative tapestry of this sprawling metropolis and its suburbs?

Is there something called “pure” Houston, or is it something else entirely?

He has not lived here long enough to say yet, but, the Mad Houstonian is here, among you, living with his 2 feline companions in an abode, somewhere out there, in your midst.....

Last April Fool’s day Robert Lee Brewer, author, writer, editor at Writer's Digest, poet laureate of the blogosphere, and blogger extraordinaire, set forth a challenge for budding, and experienced writers alike. He believes that one of the most important tools for a writer trying to find success in today's media environment is a strong platform. He wanted to help create a supportive framework that helps writers challenge themselves.

All through April 2013 a selection of members of the Wordsmith community of writers that sprang up after that month share their thoughts on the 1 yr. anniversary.

April 04, 2013

As regular readers of my medical adventures know, I've got a small to medium cancerous tumor (malignant melanoma) in my right eye and had to wait until I'd lived in Texas 6 months before I could qualify for the financial assistance needed to get treated by MD Anderson Cancer Center for this condition.

Events have moved quickly since March 20th; all sorts of blood tests, MRI’s, ultrasounds and cat scans. Then, yesterday, I came in for a re-measurement, so they can order the plaque and a chat with the Doc who will do the job.

I learned that I have been scheduled for surgery, well actually, a pair 5 days apart.

I go in April 18th, for the insertion surgery, the removal surgery is the 23rd and a post-op follow-up is the 24th.

April 01, 2013

Last April Fool’s day Robert Lee Brewer, author, writer,editor at Writer's Digest, poet laureate of the blogosphere, and blogger extraordinaire, set forth a challenge for budding, and experienced writersalike. He believes that one of the most important tools for a writer trying to find success in today's media environment is a strong platform. He wanted to help create a supportive framework that helps writers challenge themselves.

The Wordsmith community of writers that sprang up after that month would make him proud, I think.

For all sorts of reasons, tied mostly to my personal life, I’ve sadly not been a very active member of the group, yet I have somehow managed to do so much since then.

I couldn’t have done it without the encouragement and support friends and, especially, another person who went through the challenge, my “Drill Sergeant”Amanda Socci, The Creative Idea Gal.

I still considered my pet blogging that of a “hobbyist”, a year ago, but since then my outlook has changed.

I am more than a guy who has a decade long history of cat blogging; I am a writer, a real honest to God writer. I have more than 4500 blog posts, from 4 kinds of blogs (2 still active); Poetry, stories, humor, opinion, travelogues, reviews, journalism, and more.

With little feedback to show for all that I have written, I have no real idea how many people have read my material and what they think of most of it, but I have not let that little detail keep me from producing, and reaching out to share what I have done.

Unemployed since Sept. 2010 and, after recovering from a broken ankle, I decided last summer that a move from California to Texas, to start fresh, personally, job-wise, and creatively, was the thing to do, and have been in Houston since September.

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